Insuring volunteers: what has to be covered
Published on September 18, 2026
A volunteer is neither an employee nor a spectator, and that is exactly what makes the question of their cover counter-intuitive. Four points to check, in this order. What follows is the French framework, where the law and insurance practice set these rules.
1. Harm the volunteer causes: the association's public liability
When a volunteer, acting for the association, causes harm to a third party (tipping a tray over a visitor, damaging a contractor's equipment), it is the association's liability that is pursued, and its public liability policy that answers.
What to check: that the policy explicitly names volunteers among the people the association answers for, and that the activities covered match what you actually do. A policy taken out for a club's ordinary activity does not necessarily cover an event open to the public.
2. Harm the volunteer suffers: personal accident cover
This is the point most often discovered too late. If a volunteer injures themselves alone (a fall while putting up a structure, a cut in the kitchen), public liability does not answer: there is no liable third party. In France their own health insurance covers the treatment, but the rest, loss of income and permanent injury, is only covered if the association has taken out personal accident cover.
It is not a general obligation, but it is the cover that is missing most often, and the one whose absence is noticed at the worst possible moment.
3. The volunteer driving their own vehicle
A volunteer carrying equipment or other volunteers in their own car is driving under their own policy. Two checks are needed: that their policy carries no exclusion for association use, and that the association, for its part, has cover that takes over.
Ask for a valid licence and a certificate of insurance for any position that involves driving: asking at sign-up saves asking the day before. That is what the custom questions on the sign-up form are for.
4. The event itself
A one-off event (a bigger crowd, a bar, temporary structures, a sporting competition) often falls outside the annual policy. Insurers offer extensions, or one-off event policies. Tell your insurer in advance, with the date, the expected number of participants, the nature of the activities and whether there will be a bar.
What you can do straight away
- Dig out the association's policy and look for the word "volunteer". If it is not there, call.
- List the risky positions at your event: working at height, kitchens, driving, heavy lifting, dealing with a drinking public.
- Ask the insurer for a certificate covering the event, which the council will ask you for anyway if you are occupying public land.
- Keep a record of who was on which position and at what time: after an incident it is the first question asked, and a schedule that has been kept up answers it in a minute.
Frequently asked questions
Must an association insure its volunteers?
It must be insured for its own public liability, and some activities or premises call for specific cover. Personal accident cover, which protects the volunteer themselves, is not systematically compulsory, but its absence leaves a real hole. Check with your insurer in the light of what you actually do.
Is a volunteer under eighteen covered like the others?
Cover differs from one policy to the next, and supervising a minor puts more on the association. Tell your insurer precisely that minors will be present, and read our article on volunteers under eighteen.
Does each volunteer need their own certificate?
No. It is the association that is insured, not each volunteer individually. What does matter is knowing who was present, on which position and at what time, because that is what lets you call on the cover.